Explanation: Stars
are forming in dark, dusty molecular cloud LDN 988.
Seen near picture center
some 2,000 light-years distant,
LDN 988 and other nearby dark nebulae were cataloged
by
Beverly T. Lynds
in 1962 using Palomar Observatory Sky Survey plates.
Narrowband and near-infrared
explorations of the dark
nebula reveal energetic shocks and outflows light-years across
associated with dozens of newborn stars.
But in this sharp optical telescopic view,
the irregular outlines of LDN 988
and friends look like dancing stick figures eclipsing
the rich starfields of the constellation Cygnus.
From dark sites the region can be
identified by eye alone.
It's part of the Great Rift of dark clouds along the
plane of the Milky Way galaxy known as
the
Northern Coalsack.